


My Gift is You

by uhpockuhlipz



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, I love them both, They love each other, can be enjoyed even if you don't celebrate christmas, happy holidays, i think, jess isn't there long lol but she DESERVES A TAG DAMN IT, kara danvers is a sweet little nerd, lena is a lonely baby please protect her, this is literally just christmas fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-26
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-09-12 05:24:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9057388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/uhpockuhlipz/pseuds/uhpockuhlipz
Summary: Four times Lena and Kara don't give each other their Christmas gifts and one time they do. Tumblr prompted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy holidays, guys! I hope you enjoy. Thank you my gf for beta reading for me. Also for the sweater inspo (since I purchased this exact sweater for you) and the gift inspo bc this is totally something I'd get for you ily muah muah now back to Karlena.

She’s nervous.

 

And it’s silly, it’s so silly, because it’s just a dumb little Christmas present that isn’t even that great and Lena probably wouldn’t even like it and what was a girl supposed to get a billionaire anyway since they could get themselves anything they’ve ever wanted even on a whim?

 

Kara takes a breath and tries to settle her thoughts. It would be okay, she decides. Yeah, it isn’t some big, grand gift, but maybe Lena will like it anyway. She really hopes she’ll like it. Or... at least pretend to like it. She’s certain Lena will at least pretend because she has really good manners so that’s something and she’s making this into a bigger thing than it is so maybe it’s better just to get it over with.

 

She walks through the increasingly familiar doors of L-Corp, greeting Collin at the front security desk with a smile and a wave. Normally she’d stop to ask about his wife and daughter, but she can’t today. If she stops even for a second, she’ll start overthinking everything and then she’ll never go upstairs and give Lena’s gift to her and  _ then  _ Lena will think she hates her, or at least doesn’t like her enough to give her a Christmas present, and that’s so far from the truth that Kara can’t even stand the idea of Lena thinking it and--

 

Okay, so maybe she’s already overthinking it. A little. Which is exactly why she needs to hurry up and get it done.

 

Jess lifts her eyebrows when she spots Kara getting off the elevator, her lips pursing slightly. Kara is pretty sure she’s hated her since that one time she’d pretty much forced her way into Lena’s office, but she doesn’t stop her, which Kara knows is completely because of Lena saying she had free passage. Still, she feels guilty about making Jess’s job harder that one time – she knows what it is to work for someone with a busy schedule who’s always in demand – so she pauses beside her desk and sets a small package in front of her. “Merry Christmas, Jess,” she offers with a smile, though Christmas is still a handful of days away. She hopes Jess will appreciate the pen. It’s a nice one, and Kara had gotten it engraved. And she’s totally not sucking up. Nope, not at all.

 

(But… Well, sometimes you have to charm the dragon to get to the princess.)

 

Surprise shapes Jess’s expression and then she offers a small smile, touching her fingers to the prettily wrapped package. “Thank you, Miss Danvers,” she offers, a little less formally than normal. “Same to you.” And she goes back to typing, which Kara takes as permission.

 

Pleased with the small victory, Kara all but bounces on her toes over to Lena’s office door, knocking gently before pushing inside. Lena looks up from her desk and her smile is as warm and bright as always when she spots Kara. She holds up a finger to signal Kara that it will just be a moment, and Kara notices the phone that’s tucked into her shoulder. It makes her stomach roll nervously as she takes a seat on the chair across from her, watching Lena. 

 

Too much time to think again, and the present in her shoulder bag starts to feel like it weighs a thousand pounds. She realizes that Lena’s speaking in another language – Italian, Kara thinks – and her belly flips again, an insistent tugging just behind her navel that makes her press her hand to it.

 

Nervous, so nervous.

 

A minute later, Lena hangs up and offers another smile, her eyes bright and green and sharply intelligent beneath dark brows that draw together with curiosity. “Hello, Kara,” she says, and her voice is as warm as her smile. It brings out Kara’s smile without effort because she knows – had witnessed several times now – that Lena didn’t greet everyone this way. Lena could be cold and cutting. She could be cool and polite. She could cut a person down with just a look and never bat an eyelash. But for Kara she was warm and soft and sweet and oh, man, it really made that insistent feeling in her belly get worse.

 

“Hi,” she breathes with a small laugh, running a hand nervously down her hair. “It’s good to see you, Lena.”

 

“It’s good to see you too.” Lena tilts her head, eyes moving from Kara’s face to her twisting fingers to her bag and back again. Kara isn’t sure if it’s her imagination or not, but she thinks maybe her smile falls a little. “Are you here for an interview? I’m afraid I haven’t done anything new or interesting for you to write about since the last time we met.”

 

Kara’s eyes go wide. “Oh! No. No, Lena, I’m actually just here to… well, to see you.” There’s a flash of surprise and then Lena is smiling again, so bright and wonderful that Kara makes a mental note to stop by just to see her more often. If it makes her this happy then it’s worth it. It’s so worth it. “I actually wanted to...” The doubts set in again and her shoulder bag feels even heavier. Was it weird that she got Lena a gift? What if Lena thinks she’s angling to get one in return from her much richer friend? So maybe she shouldn’t do it yet. Maybe it’s smarter to wait until later.

 

“To?” Lena prompts softly. She isn’t rushing Kara or anything. There is genuine interest in her eyes as they track across Kara’s face, flickering from feature to feature as she waits for Kara to clarify exactly why she’s sitting here in her office.

 

“To...” The words  _ give you your gift  _ stick at the back of her throat and Kara clears it, smiling awkwardly. “To ask you what you’re doing for Christmas.” And oh, gosh, maybe that’s an even worse idea than just giving her the present now. She’d just figured when she was saying it that if she gives it to Lena on Christmas then Lena wouldn’t think she had to get something in return so it wouldn’t look like Kara wanted something from her because surely a lot of people did, and it wasn’t fair that people used Lena when she was just so  _ good  _ and deserved so much  _ more  _ and--

 

And it occurs to her as Lena looks at her with absolute bafflement that maybe it isn’t exactly a…  _ sensitive  _ question. Because the last bit of Lena’s family just got put in jail and what could she possibly be doing for a family holiday when she didn’t have any family to spend it with?

 

“Because if you’re free,” she rushes on before Lena can speak, “Maybe you’d want to come spend it with me? And my family. Friends and family,” she amends when Lena looks doubtful. “We tend to have like, misfit holidays. Not that you’re a misfit.” Oh man, she’s bungling this big-time, isn’t she?

“I just mean… You know I was adopted, like you.” Lena nods slowly. “And like, I remember my biological parents and I loved them so much and I still miss them every day, but the Danverses became like my family too. I was the little stray that turned up on their doorstep and I’d never even seen-- that is, we didn’t celebrate Christmas where I came from.” 

 

Kara clears her throat, heat crawling up the back of her neck at the near slip. “I was so grateful for them because even when I was angry and sad, they never even considered making me leave again. So when I got older and made friends with people who didn’t have anywhere to go, I wanted to be that place for them. So that they’d have a place that could feel like home.”

 

She chances a glance at Lena. The other woman is watching her, her expression soft and thoughtful, but she didn’t say anything. Kara takes a deep breath, lets it out again slowly. “So maybe if you don’t have anywhere to go, you could come be part of our found family. If you want. You don’t have to if you’d rather just--”

 

“I’d love to.”

 

Kara blinks at the sudden answer, surprised by how abrupt it was. Apparently it surprised Lena too because she inhales shakily and twists a little in her chair, eyes skirting away. She catches her lower lip between her teeth and Kara follows the movement before glancing quickly up again. “Well… great. Awesome.” She makes herself smile, willing her heart to settle again. “I’m really happy to have you.” Alex will not be, but she’ll make her be nice. Maybe she’ll threaten to tell Maggie about her punk phase if she isn’t. 

 

Mind already racing ahead, Kara stands, forgetting all about the gift in her bag.

 

“Are you leaving?” Lena asks with a laugh. Kara flushes when she realizes how abruptly she’d stood up and runs a hand down her ponytail, glancing around with her own nervous chuckle.

 

“Sorry. I started thinking about Christmas and all the things I have to do and… Sorry. That was rude.” She flops into her chair again and Lena shakes her head, still chuckling.

 

“It’s alright. But I was hoping that maybe I could ask you to dinner tomorrow night? To repay your kindness.”

 

Kara softens, reaching out across the desk to touch her fingers gently to the back of Lena’s hand. Lena’s eyes drop to the gesture, focusing there almost shyly. Kara watches her fondly, and maybe with a little bit of sadness knowing how lonely Lena must be. “Kindness doesn’t need to be repaid, Lena. I’m not asking you to join us to get something from you. I just want you to be there.”

 

Lena looks up and those eyes are filled with so  _ much  _ that Kara’s breath catches and she wonders how anyone could think her cold or evil and distrustful when she is the smartest, sweetest, kindest person Kara knows. “Come to dinner with me anyway,” she asks. “Please.” And Kara can’t resist. She smiles and nods, giving Lena’s words back to her.

 

“I’d love to.”

 

//

 

Lena knows that an invitation to a Christmas party doesn’t need to be repaid. Logically she  _ knows  _ that. But she’s always had trouble believing that people could give something for nothing, even selfless people like Kara, and she’s never experienced a Christmas party invitation that was just about being with someone. Oh, she was invited to many parties. Company parties, personal parties, what have you. But actual Christmas day? That was for family, and Lena hadn’t had one since Lex had completely lost himself to his hatred and biases.

 

Not that her family had ever really done “family” Christmas. The Luthors just weren’t like that. When Kara had been describing the home that the Danverses had offered her, Lena had felt a pang of envy. She hadn’t been given that. She’d been given every material item she’d ever even thought of wanting, but never just… family. Love. Comfort. People she knew she could trust to hold her when she was sick or when she cried or any of those things. Even Lex, whom she’d connected with more than any of the other Luthors, had been raised on a sort of give and take.

 

“ _ Nothing is free, Lena. Not even family. You have to know how to speak to them.” _

 

And she’d learned, hadn’t she? She’d learned to be as cold and as callous and as manipulative. But it had never sat comfortably and Lena liked to think that maybe, just maybe, she wasn’t like them after all. Maybe the name Luthor was just that – a name and nothing more. Not a curse, not damnation. Just a name she happens to have. A name she wants to remake. Kara was the first person to make her feel like maybe she could, and then Supergirl had as well. How ironic that it would be one of her family’s arch-nemeses to encourage her to break the mold.

 

_ Be your own hero _ , she’d said, and Lena had tried. Is trying.

 

She just wants to do good.  _ Be  _ good. Like Kara Danvers.

 

Well, she thinks as she watches Kara swing through the restaurant doors, maybe not  _ that  _ good. She doesn’t think anyone could touch Kara Danvers levels of good because Kara Danvers is the purest, sweetest, most generous human being that Lena had ever encountered. And she’s beautiful, so beautiful. Lena is breathless as she watches her unwind her scarf, tousled blonde curls falling around the shoulders of a festive red sweater threaded through with gold. She passes it all to  the  _ maître d',  _ who is usually a pretty brusque older man, but seems to be – like the rest of the population of National City – completely charmed by Kara. He doesn’t usually take coats and such, Lena thinks with amusement as Kara laughs at something he says.

 

Then the  _ maître d'  _ motions towards her table and Kara turns, their eyes meeting across tables and crisscrossing waiters and shuffling patrons.

 

And suddenly Lena absolutely cannot breathe. She doesn’t know how other people can be in Kara’s presence every day and be completely unaffected. She thinks that everyone who knows Kara must be in love with her because she is half in love with her herself and oh, that’s trouble, that’s so much trouble, but she can’t help it. Her fingers touch the bag at her side where a package sits waiting to be opened and wonders if Kara will like it.

 

“ Hi,” Kara says when she reached the table, fingers nervously pressing her glasses back up her nose. They’re fogging from the sudden warmth of the restaurant and Lena can’t help but chuckle, standing until the other woman slides into the booth across from her.

 

“ Hi,” she says, watching as Kara removes the fogging glasses to rub them on her shirt. Lena’s eyes narrow slightly, a puzzled frown tilting her lips. There’s something… Something in the blue of her eyes and the tilt of her chin… But then Kara slides the glasses back on, offering her a sheepish smile, and Lena shakes off the feeling to smile again. “Are you hungry?” And it’s kind of a joke because she’s never known Kara to  _ not  _ be hungry.

 

Kara groans, “I’m  _ starving,”  _ and it’s said so dramatically that Lena laughs out loud, a sound of genuine humor she can’t seem to mute. Kara is very good at that. At making her laugh, and making her  _ want  _ to laugh. And she does it for no other reason than to make Lena smile, which is the most amazing part. Kara only grins in return before opening her menu.

 

They talk through the meal and it’s easy and light. Kara doesn’t ask about her brother or her mom or even hint that she wants to. Her focus is entirely on Lena. What she likes and doesn’t like, what she wants to do with her company, if she has any food allergies because  _ “I make like ten million cookies for Christmas, Lena, so I need to know now.”  _ Lena asks about Kara in turn, asks about Christmas and if she should bring something, asks about her sister because they seem very close.

 

Something flashes in Kara’s eyes and she hesitates, licking her lips before taking a quick gulp of water. “Alex is great,” she says, and that same uncertainty is in her voice. Lena lifts her brows, silently willing Kara to go on because she doesn’t exactly sound sure. “No really, she’s great. She’ll be at Christmas too so you can see for yourself.” She hesitates again and then adds (and there’s a small, defiant tilt of her chin as she does so that makes that question of  _ something  _ come to life in Lena’s mind once more), “Her girlfriend will be there too.”

 

“ Oh.” Lena blinks in surprise, effectively distracted from her thoughtful study of Kara’s face. “That’s nice.”

 

“ That’s girlfriend as in Alex-is-dating-her girlfriend, not she’s-just-a-friend girlfriend,” Kara goes on. “So if that’s an issue for you then we should maybe rethink that invite.” Kara’s lips purse, her nostrils flaring as if Lena had said something mean about it, her chin lifting a fraction higher. There is such strength and unwavering certainty and  _ goodness  _ in her expression that Lena thinks,  _ aha,  _ before Kara goes on. “Actually if that’s an issue then we should maybe rethink dinner too because Alex is amazing and wonderful and awesome and I love her and I’m so proud of her and I’m just glad she’s  _ happy.  _ Being gay doesn’t change who she is and if people can’t see that--”

 

“ Kara.” Lena leans across the table, her hand falling on top of Kara’s. She smiles softly, squeezing the fingers that had gone rigid beneath her own. “I know what you meant, and it’s not a problem.” Amused now, Lena leans back, scooping up her wine as she watches Kara deflate from over the rim. “Considering you work for CatCo magazine, you don’t listen to a lot of gossip, do you?”

 

Kara, still shaking off the fight she’d been prepared to have on her sister’s behalf, gives Lena a baffled look. “What do you mean?”

 

“ You don’t hear rumors. About me,” she clarifies, pointing a finger towards herself. “Or stalk my social media. I’m almost insulted,” she says with a laugh, and Kara’s cheeks flush as she pushes up her glasses. Lena wants to reach across the distance and brush her fingers down one of those warm cheeks, but she doesn’t. Instead she presses her hand into her bag, feeling Kara’s present through it.

 

“ It seemed weird to search you after we became friends,” Kara mutters. “Intrusive or something.” Lena is touched by the thoughtfulness of that and she hopes Kara can see that, that she can somehow convey how much Kara’s sweetness and consideration means to her.

 

“ Thank you,” she says, almost uncertainly. She isn’t quite sure how to handle people when they treat her so carefully, like she matters, like they care what she thinks and feels and wants. It throws her off and for a moment she can only look at Kara, trying to get back the thread of her conversation. 

 

“Well I… If you look into what other publications have written about me, you’ll see that there’s a lot of speculation about my love life. About my sexuality,” she adds, sipping her wine again, her eyes trained on Kara over the rim. She watches those bright eyes go wide behind her glasses and smiles at the color that floods her face.

 

“ Oh,” Kara says. “Geez, now I feel like a jerk for ranting at you.” She bites her lip, hesitates, then asks, “Are they right? To speculate?”

 

Lena’s eyes light with humor. “Is that personal or professional curiosity, Miss Danvers?”

 

“ Personal,” Kara says immediately, then flushes even darker, choking a little on her water when she understands the implication. Lena laughs again, just can’t help it, absolutely delighted with her. “I meant that I’m not looking for a story,” Kara rushes to clarify and Lena only lifts her eyebrows. “Not because I- not that I’m-” She huffs out a quick breath. “I’m just interested in you, as a person. As… as my friend.”

 

“ Off the record?” Lena teases, taking pity on Kara and cutting off her rambling. Kara smiles her thanks and nods. “Yes, they’re right to speculate. I’ve never connected with men the way I do with women.”

 

“ How long have you known that?”

 

Lena hums thoughtfully and for once she doesn’t feel like she’s suffocating discussing it. There is no pressure squeezing her lungs, no weight on her chest, because there isn’t derision or condemnation in Kara’s soft eyes like there always was in Lillian Luthor’s. There is curiosity and understanding and something else Lena can’t place, or else doesn’t want to think about. “I’ve always known,” she tells her with a shrug.

 

Kara leans closer. “Maybe you could talk to Alex about it. How it feels, how it… I mean, she has Maggie, but it might be nice for her to talk to someone like her that she isn’t all moony about, you know? If you want to,” she adds quickly. “Only if you’re comfortable.”

 

Lena shrugs. “Why don’t we see how we get along together first,” she murmurs. Because the last time she’d met Alex Danvers, she hadn’t exactly seemed… amenable to the idea of a Luthor being in her sister’s life. “I don’t think I’d be much of a help to her if she doesn’t like me to begin with.” And before she could suffer through Kara trying to lie and say that Alex did like her (because Kara is a truly terrible liar), she asks, “What about you, Kara?”

 

“ Me?”

 

“ Boys? Girls? Both?” She smiles. “Everything in between?”

 

“ Oh.” Kara laughs nervously, fiddling with the arm of her glasses. “I guess… I’ve never really thought about it. Labels like that didn’t exist on-- where I’m from. Where I grew up, I mean. No one even thought about other people’s interests in that way. Sexuality, I mean. It wasn’t a… big deal, I guess.”

 

“ Must have been nice,” Lena muses, and Kara’s expression is torn between a frown and something like wistfulness.

 

“ I thought so,” she says, but it doesn’t quite sound like an agreement. Lena decides to leave that for another time.

 

By the time they’re through dessert (Lena’s just coffee and Kara’s a huge slice of cheesecake that she demands Lena takes bites from), they’ve covered several other topics, but all Lena can think about is that Kara hadn’t said  _ I’m straight.  _

 

They rise together after Lena wins the battle to pay for the meal ( _ “But I ate like three times more than you!”  _ Kara had insisted, but Lena wouldn’t hear it), walking to retrieve their winter gear from the front. They say goodbye, Kara enveloping her in a hug just outside the doors. She smells like honey and vanilla and Lena wants to press her face into her hair and hold on forever. But she can’t, of course. She  _ can’t.  _ Instead she watches Kara walk away with something like yearning making her chest ache. The present she’d brought for her sits in her bag still, untouched and unacknowledged.

 

She wants time to decide if it’s a gift worthy of the woman she is pretty sure is also Supergirl.

 

//

  
  


She calls Lena in a near panic on Christmas Eve, frantic as her phone rings and rings and rings and--

 

“ Kara?”

 

“ Oh, thank goodness,” Kara breathes, closing her eyes to stave off the welling panic in her chest. “Lena, hi. I’m sorry, I have a huge favor to ask. Are you busy?”

 

There is a hesitation, the sound of rustling papers, a murmur of muffled voices that must be Lena trying to cover the receiver to speak to someone, but Kara can hear it clearly anyway. The other person is Jess. “Lena, are you  _ working?”  _ She looks at her watch. “It’s nearly seven on Christmas Eve!”

 

“ I know.” Lena blows out a slow breath and it gusts across the line, the sound so weary that Kara wishes she could just fly to Lena’s office and gather her up and stroke her hair until she sleeps. “There’s just so much to do with everyone off until the first and I just wanted to-” Her voice is muffled again and Kara hears her telling Jess to go home and enjoy her vacation. There’s the sound of heels, the click of the door, and then Lena’s voice returns fully again. “I’m sorry, what did you need, Kara?” The question is almost stiff and Kara thinks that Lena must get a lot of people asking her for favors all the time and she suddenly feels guilty for being one more.

 

“ Okay well I just want to say first that you totally don’t have to do it,” she says, “And I could ask someone else if you don’t want to, that’s fine, I mean, it isn’t a big deal-”

 

“ Kara.” There’s a soft laugh and she exhales at the sound, closing her eyes. “What is it?”

 

“ Well… Alex was supposed to help me get ready for tomorrow but she kind of got asked out on a date tonight and it’s a big deal you know? And I didn’t want her to tell Maggie no because they’re still so new and Alex is still so… It’s important. So I told her to go and that I’d do it myself, but I underestimated how much it is for one person and I could really use an extra hand. But don’t feel obligated,” she rushed to tack on. “I can ask someone else if you don’t want to.”

 

There was silence on the other end, and it lasted so long that Kara might’ve thought Lena had hung up if she couldn’t still hear her breathing. So she waited, rewarded when Lena spoke at last. “Alex can’t make it so you called… me?”

 

Kara tilts her head in confusion. “Yes? Is that okay?”

 

“ Is it okay?” Lena laughs, and she sounds almost baffled. “Yes, I’m just… not certain why you called me instead of your other friends. I know you have quite a lot.”

 

“ Oh.” Kara shrugs, wondering over that herself. Why it’s Lena she’s talking to instead of Winn – who is really good a decorating – or James – who is an awesome cookie froster – or even Lois and Clark, who are both very efficient and both know about Kara’s powers (plus Clark has his own) and so they could get it done way faster. She doesn’t know if Lena has frosted cookies before. She doesn’t know if she knows how to decorate an apartment for Christmas or if she can peel potatoes or if she can put together an apple pie. She doesn’t know a lot about Lena, but she knows she wants to be around her and that seems like a good enough reason. Just being alone with Lena. “I don’t know. I just wanted to. Do… do  _ you  _ want to? Come over, I mean.”

 

There is another moment of quiet and then Lena murmurs, “Yes, alright,” and Kara can practically hear her smile over the line.

 

“ Awesome. Meet me when you can.” And since Lena already knows her address, they say goodbye and Kara rushes at superspeed to her room to change into something other than her penguin patterned pajamas.

 

It takes Lena twenty-four minutes (and thirty-seven seconds) to knock on Kara’s door and she answers with a wide smile, reaching out to immediately snag her hand and drag her inside. “I got it sort of started,” she says, motioning to the piles of boxes and stacks of food ingredients on the counters. “I wasn’t sure which part you’d want to do, but we kind of have to get it all done so...” The only part already done – the part that had been done for weeks – was Kara’s tree. The rest of her decorations she always saved for Christmas Eve. And usually it was her and Alex, but she doesn’t mind sharing it with Lena instead this year.

 

Kind of enjoys it, actually.

 

Lena takes in the chaos, lifts her eyebrows, and exhales slowly. “Okay,” she says determinedly, setting down her bag and whipping off her coat. She unwinds her scarf and pulls off her hat and for a moment Kara gets distracted by the way her dark hair crackles with static and clings to the soft wool. Then Lena slips out of her work blazer and pushes up the sleeves of her blouse, effectively distracting Kara further. “Let’s get this done.”

 

Kara feels something tremble in her chest and her eyes flicker to the tree where the bottom layer of branches were bending upwards from the amount of presents beneath them. She considers dragging Lena over to it and handing her the one meant for her, but decides against it for now. There was an awful lot to do, and besides, she can wait one more day. Christmas is tomorrow.

 

So she mimics Lena, pushes up her sleeves, and grins.

 

“ Let’s do it.”

 

//

 

It’s past one in the morning when they finish hanging, mixing, pouring, peeling, baking, frosting, and whatever else they’ve managed to do. Lena is used to working late hours, but she isn’t used to doing stuff like this, and she finds herself more worn out from hanging tinsel and mistletoe than she’s ever been from debating price points with Tokyo or Spain. 

 

They collapse side by side onto Kara’s couch and Lena looks around them at all they’ve done. She can smell the remnants of the pies and cookies they’d baked, as well as the brine they’d prepped to soak the ham in. The room simply sparkles with all of the decorations they’d hung, bright and festive and fun.

 

Kara’s thigh is warm and pressed to hers and Lena wishes more than she ever wished for anything that she could lean into her side and just… stay there.

 

She’d kicked her heels off at some point and it startled her to find herself shorter than Kara, which is something she’d never noticed before because… Well, Kara seemed to try and make herself smaller when she was around other people, like she was trying not to be noticed, but she wasn’t like that in her own home. Not around Lena. (And a time or two she’d watched Kara push her glasses up to the top of her head and forget about them, as if their absence didn’t make a difference to her, and really, it only adds fuel to her theory because Lena is pretty blind without her glasses or contacts.)

 

“We’re awesome,” Kara says, tossing her arms up with their victory, and Lena chuckles.

 

“We are,” she agrees softly, trying and failing to stifle a yawn in the crook of her elbow.

 

Kara glances over at her and frowns, a soft pout of lips, as she watches her. “I’m sorry, I kept you late,” Kara says, blinking down at her watch with a deepening frown. Lena tries to wave off her concern, but she’s yawning again and gives up, offering a rueful smile instead.

 

“That’s alright. But I should head home-”

 

“You could stay here.”

 

The invitation, quickly offered and blushed over, has them both falling silent. Lena stares at Kara as the blush floods her face and makes her ears burn red, and it’s amazingly endearing. So much so that Lena might have smiled were she not still reeling from the offer. 

 

“I-- I mean… You’re tired and it’s dark and the roads can get icy and I just don’t think you should drive home like this. And I know I only have one bed, but it’s really big so we can both fit. Or… Or I can sleep on the couch if that’s more comfortable for you. I just don’t think it makes sense for you to drive home like this when you’re coming here tomorrow anyway. So um. Will you? Stay?”

 

Lena finds herself nodding before she can question it and they sit there just looking at each other for another long minute before Kara says something about pajamas and a spare toothbrush, hopping up from the couch to lead the way to her room. Lena follows. She shoots a look over her shoulder to where her shoulder bag sits and for a moment she considers getting Kara’s gift, but her stomach is already twisted up enough to deal with that.

 

They change and wash up and then crawl into Kara’s bed. Kara flops on her stomach and Lena on her back, but her head turns to look at the other woman because she can feel her eyes. Now that they’re in bed, Kara looks sleepy and tousled. And yes, without the glasses, Lena can see it. Even in the dark she can see the strength and kindness of Supergirl and she wonders when Kara will tell her, if she’ll tell her. She doesn’t doubt her trust. After all, she’s literally in bed with a Luthor. So she hopes, and she wonders, and she feels her eyes growing heavy.

 

“Lena?” Kara murmurs, her eyes burning blue in the low light of the street lamps filtering through Kara’s window.

 

“Hm?” Lena blinks her eyes open and meets her gaze, staring right back. She watches Kara inch closer, feels her fingers brush against her hip before quickly withdrawing. She’s probably blushing, and Lena smiles slightly as she imagines it.

 

“Can I…” Kara hesitates, her eyes flickering across Lena’s face before focusing on her lips, then slipping back up to her eyes. Lena’s heart starts to beat a little faster as Kara nervously swipes her tongue across her own lips. “Do you think maybe I could...”

 

Lena leans up and presses their lips together. “Yes,” she murmurs, breathless, dizzy. “Yes you can.”

 

Kara’s eyes are closed. “Awesome,” she murmurs before leaning down again.

 

//

 

They’re both sleepy-eyed and smiling when they get up the next morning, soft with affection and morning kisses. Kara can’t believe that she’d spent the night kissing Lena Luthor in her bed, or that she’d been kissing her at all, or that Lena would want to kiss her back. She can’t believe that it isn’t awkward now and decides it’s probably a Christmas miracle when soft, sleepy Lena smiles at her when she’s awake and lets her kiss her again. Her face is free of makeup and her hair is a mussed waterfall of black across Kara’s pillow and her eyes have the slightly unfocused dilation of someone with somewhat poor vision and Kara thinks she’s the most beautiful woman she’s ever seen.

 

Especially wearing one of Kara’s oversized t-shirts and a pair of shorts, which is just… wow, so cute?

 

They get up and Kara makes coffee for them both and Lena insists on brushing her teeth before Kara is allowed to kiss her again. But they do kiss again. They pop the ham into the oven and Kara kisses her again. They frost the remaining cookies and Kara smears some on Lena’s nose before kissing it away, then kissing her again. Lena starts to leave the kitchen a few steps ahead of her and Kara catches her hand, tugs her to a stop in the door frame, and points up with a grin at the mistletoe before kissing her again.

 

She really, really likes kissing Lena Luthor.

 

Kara convinces Lena to borrow a pair of jeans and a festive sweater so that she doesn’t have to go home to change. It’s black, so in Lena’s color scheme, and decorated with snowmen. The caption reads “chillin’ with my snowmies” and Kara giggles when she comes out wearing it even though it’s hers because, oh man, it’s just so cute. And that sweater is a classic. Lena rolls her eyes when she says it, but Kara only smiles at her until Lena smiles too and leans up to kiss her.

 

“Come here,” Lena says suddenly, and she tugs Kara back into the living room. Kara lets herself be pulled, smiling to herself, watching Lena move ahead of her.

 

“Will you leave your hair down tonight?” she asks, reaching her hand out to trail her fingers through still-slightly-damp and curling black hair, enjoying its silkiness. Lena looks back at her, almost baffled by the affection, and Kara looks patiently back at her until she smiles and shrugs, nods.

 

“But you’re responsible for combing it out tomorrow when it’s a snarled mess,” she says, gently nudging Kara down onto the couch before crossing to the door. Kara almost panics, thinking Lena is leaving, before she sees the woman reach into her back and tug out a perfectly wrapped package in shining gold foil. She crosses back to her and hands it to Kara, who tags with a look of surprise. “I didn’t think to get gifts for the others coming to your party, so I… I wanted to give this to you now.” She bites her lip, glancing from the package to Kara and back again. “Would you open it?”

 

Kara’s expression lights up, she just can’t help it. She’s loved Christmas since the very first time the Danvers family had explained it to her. She just loves the mood it carries with it, loves the warmth and sweetness of gestures like these. And she likes the fun and mystery of gift-giving, even if the gifts aren’t always exciting things. So she gives Lena a quick peck and then tears into the pretty paper and trailing silver ribbon, gasping when she uncovers the beautifully monogrammed leather notebook and fussy feather quill with the tiny inkwell tucked inside the box. “Oh my gosh,” she whispers, reverently trailing her fingers along the swirling gold of her initials and the soft bristles of the… was it an eagle feather. “Lena...”

 

“I wanted you to have something beautiful to write your thoughts in,” she murmurs softly. “And the eagle feather reminded me of you.” Kara wants to know why, but she doesn’t ask. She’s too blown away. She sets the gifts on her coffee table and cups Lena’s face in her palms, drawing her in for the softest, sweetest kiss.

 

“Thank you,” she breathes and Lena smiles shyly, eyes still closed, her fingers wrapped loosely around Kara’s wrists. She can hear Lena’s heart racing if she focuses on it and likes the sound of it. It tells her how she’s feeling, and that how she’s feeling matches how Kara is feeling. She leaps up suddenly, maybe a little two fast, and darts across to the tree to grab Lena’s present before hopping back onto the couch. “For you.”

 

“For me?” Lena stares at the package, seems to hesitate a moment before reaching out to take it. She holds it in her hands, just staring, as if she’s never had a gift before. Or maybe just never one that’s been given out of something other than obligation.

 

“Open it,” Kara prompts softly, brushing Lena’s hair back behind her ear. That’s another thing. Now that she’s been kissing her, Kara can’t seem to get enough of touching in general. Tiny, affectionate gestures, gestures that tell her it’s real and that Lena’s here and that she’s allowed to do this now. She lets herself lean into her side while Lena carefully plucks at the tape surrounding her package. She peels away the paper with painful slowness, then slips the box open.

 

“Kara,” she breathes.

 

“It’s not much,” Kara rushes out. “Especially not compared to what you got me. But I figured since we’re friends – I mean, maybe more  _ now,  _ but friends first – and you said I was your only friend here, I thought maybe you didn’t have any good pictures for your office. Or home, or wherever you want to put it.” She adds the last quickly, flushing, because she doesn’t want to presume that the simple silver picture frame with a photo of them from Lena’s party warrants the place of honor that is an office residency.

 

It is a nice picture, the two of them pressed all but cheek to cheek and grinning. Kara is holding an empty appetizer cup and Lena is just a little mussed from her struggles with the device that had shut down the party crashers, but they look like they’re having fun, like they’re happy to be together. Kara totally had been. She remembers every moment vividly, after all.

 

“Kara, it’s… it’s the best present I’ve ever received, I can’t even begin to...” And when Lena looks up, her eyes are damp and her lips are trembling, but she’s smiling and clutching the picture to her chest and Kara couldn’t have asked for a better reaction. Kara doesn’t need the words to understand.

 

“You’re welcome,” she says, and then she’s kissing her again, a thumb trailing beneath her eye to catch the tear that spilled over. She can’t get enough of these kisses, or of Lena.

 

There are so many other things to think about, but Kara pushes them away for now. Instead, she focuses on kissing Lena until they’re both breathless, until she can hear her heart pounding, until she’s afraid she might actually be floating (she isn’t when she checks, but it still feels like it). She kisses her until the first knock comes and she’s opening the door to her family.

 

And when her found family embraces Lena’s presence with little to no reservations, Kara thinks, well, it’s a start.


End file.
